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County's ?Poll Vote' Blasted: Agreement to Give Now-Private Nursing Home Workers Health Insurance is Made Outside a Public Meeting.

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Jennifer Learn-Andes, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

Jan. 4--In documents approved in a poll vote outside a public meeting, Luzerne County majority commissioners agreed to provide $1.3 million in health care coverage to former Valley Crest Nursing Home employees and their dependants over the next 18 months.

No longer county employees, the workers now are on the payroll of Complete HealthCare Resources, a private company that took over the home Jan. 1.

Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said the stipulation was never discussed with him at any commissioner meetings -- public or closed-door -- but instead was inserted in documents he was asked to approve through a poll vote.

Majority commissioners said in November that the individual polling of commissioners outside a meeting was necessary to get an agreement hammered out before the Jan. 1 takeover, and county Solicitor Jim Blaum said it wouldn't violate the Sunshine Law because all documents would be formally ratified.

Urban said majority commissioners led him -- and taxpayers -- to believe the polling would cover routine transition paperwork, such as approval to transfer medical records to the new owner.

Something as serious as spending $1.3 million should have been laid out in public in advance, he said. Ratifying the documents at next week's meeting is a slap in the face of the public because Complete has already taken over the home, Urban said.

The holiday isn't an excuse because all three commissioners attended a prison board meeting on Dec. 29 when the documents were being dispersed to commissioners, Urban said.

"They should've called a special meeting and let the public weigh in on this," Urban said. "A poll is really a secret vote that the public doesn't have any say in."

Commissioners Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak said they think the poll vote complies with the law because commissioners told the public they were going to conduct it.

Peter Licari, Complete HealthCare's chief executive, said Tuesday that commissioners agreed to the $1.3 million in coverage "because it helps us to make a gentler transition."

The company will pick up the entire health insurance coverage and tab starting July 2007, he said.

But Urban said the company is already getting a break because majority commissioners agreed to charge the company only $10 per year over the next two years for its use of the county home, equipment and 290 state-licensed beds.

Also included in the package are vehicles, medical apparatus and medical and office supplies, according to the agreement.

"The employees belong to Complete. It was my understanding Complete would provide the employees' health care," Urban said.

Even if the company didn't intend to provide health insurance, former county employees who want to receive health insurance through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) have always been expected to pay out of their own pocket, he said.

Vonderheid and Skrepenak said the $1.3 million pales in comparison to the estimated more than $3 million the county would have paid to get out of the nursing home business.

Vonderheid said Luzerne is the first third-class county in the state to entirely transition its home to the private sector.

"That is an accomplishment. We have managed to do an amazing thing," he said.

"That's the art of negotiating," Skrepenak said. "You have to give concessions to make things happen. The result is that Luzerne County is no longer operator of a nursing home. We got the deficit off taxpayers' shoulders. People have jobs still. And most importantly, all the Valley Crest residents have a roof over their heads."

Majority commissioners have repeatedly stressed that a low lease payment is fair because the county will no longer eat $4 million annual losses running the home.

But Urban counters that Complete won't face $4 million losses because it is inheriting a work force streamlined through an early retirement package.

"Nowhere can you lease a building for $10," Urban said.

Licari said the $10 is fair because the company is employing 270 workers, agreeing to maintain the building until it constructs a new one and committing to care for residents, regardless of their ability to pay.

"We're committing to keep the building current, to give the home a fighting chance to meet its obligations," he said. "We've got a lot of challenges. The home will continue to be a high-Medicaid facility, so reimbursements will continue to be low."

Complete -- which is using the name Valley Crest Nursing, L.P., in the lease document -- has the option to extend the lease three more years, at a cost of $60,000 each additional year. Licari said he is head of both entities.

The company must pay for the utilities, property taxes, insurance and maintenance, the agreement says.

Meanwhile, the county agrees to make up to $800,000 in sprinkler system repairs and other life safety repairs by April 1.

Licari said the county will be paid fair market value for any property used to construct a new private home. The size and design of the new home will hinge largely on the impact of legislative Medicaid reimbursement changes scheduled to be finalized in June, he said.

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What do you think of majority commissioners' decision to pay health benefits to former Valley Crest Nursing Home employees without a public vote? State your views at www.timesleader.com [http://www.timesleader.com].

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

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Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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